Nonfiction
by Robin Fast.
“Beneath this rag-and-bone sky, the only shadow cast is memory. It was wintertime thirty-five years ago when I learned that family afflictions, like weather, come at you from beyond.”
by Natalie Pearson.
“I make amends with small gifts—a loaf of crusty bread, a Louie Prima CD, lilacs in a mason jar. This little drive to nowhere would be just such a gift.”
by Kate Broad.
“My family must have read some theory, or made it up themselves, that having a pet could help lower suicide risk. An animal was something to believe in, to hold close—a reason to get up each day.”
by Erin Van Rheenen.
“The room with the gun is where my father-in-law, Phil, watches the news at full hectoring volume…The news he favors taps into his fear of the big bad world and anyone who isn’t him.”
by Pia Jee-Hae Baur.
“I dislike switching doctors, primarily because every time I have to recount my medical history, I have to decide how much I should lie.”
by Mary Arguelles.
“I don’t even know why I want a tattoo. Maybe to commemorate the missing breast. Maybe to re-define beauty. Maybe just to cover the scar. All I know is something about the space screams canvas.”
by D. Liebhart.
“When she was in her armchair, I brought her breakfast. She took a single bite then put down her spoon. “This is stupid,” she said. “This is only going to make it last longer.””
by Siobhan McKenna.
“’How do you do it? How do you watch people die day after day?’
He asked the question as we passed each other on the threshold of his wife’s room. He was leaving after having said all the goodbyes that could be spoken with words.”
by David Watts.
“She stands in my examining room unable to sit, pacing, then stopping tensely, as if paralyzed by the urge to pace. Three times she has made this appointment, three times a no-show.”